The first ingredient in the food is a grain. Rice is a decent quality grain, but we believe that food made for dogs should be based on meat. Rice is also the third ingredient and should be read in as a single ingredient with the first (see explanation of “splitting” on main page). It is likely that the combined rice ingredients outweigh the meat product by a significant margin and make up the substantial bulk of the food.

The second ingredient is a named meat product. There is a second meat product in the food at 6th on the ingredient list, but this is chicken inclusive of its water content (about 80%) and once that is removed it is likely that this ingredient would be more accurately placed somewhat further down the ingredient list (ingredients are listed in order of weight). There are no further meat ingredients in the food.

It is a concern to see chicken fat as the fourth (third) ingredient. Research at Purdue University has identified a fat in the top four ingredients of a dry dog food as a factor that increases the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. Smaller breeds are untested.

Beet pulp, however, is filler and a controversial ingredient – it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food especially so high on the ingredient list. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.

Cellulose powder is filler. It is “purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pulp from fibrous plant materials”: otherwise known as sawdust. We note the use of soy isolate and soya oil in the food. Soy is a poor quality source of protein in dog food, and a common cause of allergy problems. Some believe that it is the number 1 cause of food allergies in dogs (outstripping even wheat).

Note that this food uses citric acid as a preservative and should not be premoistened prior to feeding (a bloat risk factor in large breed dogs).